How to be Brave with a Dragon
by DragonWolfy1
Summary: Hiccup and Merida are alike in many ways. They both don't have many friends, their both bullied, and they both have to be rulers. Hiccup makes a promise to come and compete when their just 9 years old, but its been 7 years. will he really come back to compete to marry his childhood friend? Along the way they make friends, some more unlikely than others.
1. Chapter 1 Fishbone

"Hurry up, ya wee fish bone!" A cheery voice rang out into the woods.

"Hey!" A second voice pouted. "That's mean."

"I was just joking!" The first voice echoed back.

"Well you have crazy hair!"

The two nine year olds burst into a fit of laughter.

"Good one, Hiccup." The first voice choked through giggles.

"You really do have crazy hair though, Merida."

Merida laughed one more time and then sat up.

"It's not fair." Merida sighed.

"What's not fair?" Hiccup asked curiously.

"I have to get married to someone who competes for me."

"Why?"

"My mum." She replied.

Hiccup understood. She would be married to some strange person because they won a stupid challenge. "I promise I'll come back and try to win for you, If you want me to."

"Oh hiccup!" She squeaked.

"So… you want me to?"

"Please."

**Stoik's POV**

Stoik watched the two kids play around in the grass. He felt bad that he had to take hiccup away today. He had finally made a friend he truly enjoyed. Merida was struggling to teach Hiccup how to shoot her tiny bow. He laughed to himself as Merida dodged Hiccups stray arrow and it got stuck in the tree next to her. Hiccup was a tiny boy and didn't have many friends. Merida was brave, yet didn't have anyone her age. Two best friends, leagues apart with no way to communicate. Stoik made a promise to himself he would bring Hiccup back one day. Merida's long, red hair got stuck in hiccups mouth. He tried to spit it out. One he was finished, the two of them looked at each other, and then rolled to the ground in a fit of laughter. Stoik remembered those carefree days, playing with hiccups mother in the grass, not knowing that they would marry and soon enough, have a child. But she was gone now. He had to worry about Hiccup, not his dead mother. It pained him to say Valka was dead, but it was the only reasonable explanation. Dragons had taken her away when Hiccup was just a baby.

**Hiccup's POV**

Hiccup looked up at his father. Then he heard a slap behind him. "Hey!" Merida yelled to a fast teen who lives by the castle. "If ye weren't so fast ye would be dead meat…"

"Why'd they do that?" Hiccup asked, aghast.

"People can be annoying little creatures." She replied, her Scottish accent sticking out on creatures.

"Crea-tours.." Hiccup said playfully, trying to copy her accent.

"That's not how I sound!" She steamed, her accent blaring again.

"Soun-ed?" Hiccup giggled.

Merida finally gave into her smile as she laughed, "You sound funnier than me!"

"No you!"

"No you!"

**Stoik's POV**

Stoik watched the two playfully bickering. "Hiccup!" He bellowed.

"Yes dad?" He said as he walked closer to him, his eyes glued to the ground.

"Time to go, son." He replied as Merida's sad eyes met his. "Say goodbye to Merida." He forced. He didn't want to take hiccup away, but hiccup had to learn to be chief. He couldn't stay here forever.

"Bye Merida." Hiccup said, eyes still on the ground. Then he whispered so only she could hear, "I will come back, I promise."

"You better ya wee fishbone." She whispered, kissing him on the cheek.

—

**3 years later**

—

The sun crept to a bed inside the huge castle. There was a heap under the blanket with a big ball of messed up red hair at the top. The second the sun touched it a face appeared and the teenager sat up quickly. This was her day to be free. She grabbed her bow and arrows and ran down the cold, stone spiral stairs. She raced to her horse and jumped on his back. "Hurry up!" She cried joyfully, anxious to start her day. The black and white horse reared and raced out of the castle gates. She shot arrow after arrow at the wooden targets she had set up years ago, getting a bulls eye every time. She saw a purplish light from deep in the woods. "Is… is that a wisp?" She said to herself. She got off the horse and trudged into the direction of the light. There it was again, in the same spot. "Maybe I shouldn't go alone, I'm only 12 after all!" She whispered, panicked. "No." She thought aloud to help cam herself. "Hiccup would be brave." She felt silly thinking of her old friend, she hadn't seen him for 3 years. Soon she reached where she had seen the light. Nothing was there. She felt something brush her and she flipped around. Nothing was there. She felt another brush. "Hello?"

She asked, wondering what was happening to her. "Wisps?" She whispered, searching for them. She felt the air around her, it felt as if a huge bird had taken off. She heard a thump next to her. She looked over and she saw a limp white shape with wings and a tail. She moved the wing away from its face and saw…

"A DRAGON?!" Merida screamed.


	2. Chapter 2 Firefly

—

4 years later

—

Merida woke to the sound of bells. Today was the day the competitors would compete for her hand in marriage. She rolled out of bed feeling worse than ever. Then she remembered. Hiccup had promised to come back! "That's silly." She mumbled to herself. "That was 7 years ago. He's not coming."

Something nudged her back onto her bed. " I know your hungry, firefly." The large, white dragon became visible, wanting food. The light fury took up most of her room. No one knew about it, of course. It had been 4 years since she found it, she didn't know how much longer she could keep this up.

Firefly looked up at her with her big, blue eyes as if to say, "He will come."

"Even if he does come I don't know if he'll win, and I don't know what he'll think of you." She sighed, flopping onto her bed. Firefly went silent as footsteps came up. She shot out some purple and vanished. Her mother walked into her room and motioned to the turquoise death trap her mother was making her wear. Once she got it on she squeaked, "I can't… breath!"

"You look beautiful." Her mother sighed.

Merida almost tripped on her way down the stairs, but was caught by invisible firefly. "I told you to stay in my room!" Merida shrieked quietly.

Firefly became visible and still had the same look in her eyes.

"He will come."

Merida stood on the stairs scolding her dragon for quite some time. "You can come, but only when I think it's safe. I'll call you and you can come, not invisible." Firefly looked confused. "I'm showing you to the kingdom today." Merida sighed, preparing herself for her light fury to panic. "It'll be ok!" Merida struggled to calm her dragon. "I'll make sure it's safe. And I'll protect you, OK? Wait on the roof for me to whistle. Then you can come."

—

Hiccup was talking to his father. "But dad I need to go!" He whined.

"Why son?" He asked. Hiccup wanted to take toothless out to try his new tail, but it was too windy.

"DAD!" he gasped when he realized what he had forgotten. "Merida!" Stoik's eyes widened.

"Well hurry up son." He laughed. Hiccup ran to toothless and the big, black, soft nightfury gracefully lifted off the ground and flew like a speeding bullet into the yellow sunrise. Hiccup was worried how he would explain it to her. He shouldn't have been. He should've been worried about the 3 huge clans who have never seen a dragon. As they flew over the castle she could see people talking, but couldn't make it out. The first challenge was starting!

"Wait!" Hiccup cried. Everyone looked up.


	3. Chapter 3 Dragons

**Merida's POV**

Merida almost cried in joy. It was hiccup AND he had a dragon just like hers! It was too much to take in. Toothless dived to the ground and landed softly in front of Merida. Merida shot up, ripped the hood of her dress and bolted to hiccup. "I missed you." She whispered as she hugged him. "I missed you to." He replied as he hugged her back. "What is this?!" The other clans cried out watching toothless, drawing their swords. Merida made a frantic dash to her bow and whistled. "This might be a teensy bit shocking for you." Merida giggled at his confused look.

**Hiccup's POV**

He heard a huge roar. "_No." It can't be!" _He thought to himself. But he was wrong. A light fury landed next to her, her snout purple, ready to protect Merida. Merida had her bow, ready to protect her dragon. Toothless and Hiccup stared mouth open at the two girls. "Uh, Hiccup?" Astrid said. "Your girlfriend doesn't seem to spoiled now." "Merida!" Elinor shrieked. "What is this?!" She screamed, trying to rip the bow out of her hands. Merida silently locked eyes with her enraged mother. Elinor's eyes were flaming until the light fury turned to her. She sat back down. "Everyone settled then?" Merida's strict voice rang as she began lowering her bow. Silence. "Good she said, sitting back into her chair with her dragon beside her. Hiccup loved her voice. He looked over to toothless, who couldn't take his eyes off the light fury so close to him. "Hey bud." He said, waving his hand in front of his face, trying to break him from his trance. "I guess we have another competitor!" Elinor exclaimed in an annoyed tone.

**Hiccup's POV**

The first competition was archery. He wasn't good at shooting a bow at a huge door, let alone a target. He closed his eyes and thought about those 7 years ago.

"_I promise I'll come back and try and win it for you, if you want me to."_

"_Oh Hiccup!"_

"_So you want me to?"_

"_Please."_

He took a deep breath and imagined what it would be like for Merida if he didn't win. "_I can do this."_ He whispered under his breath. He opened his eyes and let the arrow fly. Astrid, Merida and hiccup held their breath as the arrow soared through the air and landed right in the center of the yellow circle.

Astrid clapped as Merida jumped out of her seat. "_Is this really happening?" _She thought to herself. The winners were Hiccup and the second clan to come. Merida didn't really care for their names, she only cared about her Hiccup. "_My Hiccup?" _She giggled to herself. She thought for a moment. "_Yeah. My hiccup." She sat back down._

—-

Later that night hiccup and toothless were on their backs, looking at the stars.

"She sure is pretty bud."

Toothless looked over with a smug look on his face, knowing he was talking about Merida.

"The light fury, I mean." Hiccup corrected, blushing and biting his lip. He heard a giggle and sat up.

The light fury appeared right in front of him with Merida on its back. Hiccup shrieked in fright and fell backwards along with toothless, both of them startled. The light fury and Merida both rolled to the ground laughing.

"Hey!" Hiccup playfully yelled.

"How'd you find this little guy?" She asked, stroking toothless's back as he sat up straight, trying to look impressive in front of the light fury.

"He was shot down and missing part of his tail." Hiccup replied.

"You poor thing." She sighed, studying his partly red tail. "Do you know who did it?"

"Yeah…" hiccup hesitated

"Who?"

"Me."

Merida stared blankly at him, looking for words.

"The real question is, how'd you find her?" Hiccup asked, breaking the silence.

"She was caught in a net."

"Oh."

Merida sat there for a minute, looking at how different her little friend had become.

"I really missed you, ya fish bone." She laughed, trying to break the silence.

"I missed you to." He replied, looking at the ground. He smirked. "Even your crazy hair."

—

Astrid hated to admit, but she was jealous of Merida.

She was a princess

She was hiccup's best friend

She had a light fury

So many people cared about her

She had a bow

She was pretty

"It just goes on and on and on!" She groaned. "She's just to perfect! How is she going to help Hiccup? They said I should get married to Hiccup!"

She blushed as she realized she did indeed want to get married to him.

"No! I'm better than her! I know I am!" She started looking for things to cook, trying to distract herself. It was 2AM now, and she was starting to wobble around.

"I-I'll prove I'm better!" She squealed, drunk from the fresh night air. She felt as if she was going crazy. She started ripping at her hair, and finally laid down in her bed. "I'll just… have to… prove…" she sighed as her drowsiness got the best of her and she fell into a deep sleep.

—

**The next day**

—

The next day hiccup and the other competitor were in the arena. He was going to have to fight him. "The first one to draw blood!" Fergus shouted from the stands. "_He's going to cheat." _Merida had said last night.

"_What?"_

"_He's going to cheat." _

"_How?"_

"_He's going to try and kill you."_

He could still clearly remember her face last night, struggling to hold in tears.

"_I'll be ok." _He had said.

A horn blew and he lunged at the other competitor.


	4. Chapter 4 First Blood

**Merida's POV**

Hiccup charged at the other competitor. Her hand instantly reached for her bow.

"_No." _She thought. "_He can do this. I'll use it if I have to."_

Hiccup was aiming for his arms while the other competitor was aiming for hiccups neck, and easier spot. She sat up in a sweat, hoping, _praying_ Hiccup would win. She was to scared to watch. She turned away and heard a clink if metal. She turned back around to see hiccup against a wall weaponless with the other competitor slowly walking towards him. At the same time, Astrid grabbed her sword on the other side of the arena. Merida saw if she ran for hiccup like Astrid was she'd be to late. She silently reached for her bow and fit an arrow into it. Just before the other competitor killed him, Merida shot his sword out of his hand. **Hiccup's POV**

Hiccup looked up towards Astrid in surprise, thinking she'd saved him. But she looked as surprised as him. He turned the opposite direction just in time to see Merida kick her bow under the seat. No one saw the arrow he guessed, for the arena was huge. It would've been too small to see. "_Sometimes the princess DOES have to save the prince I guess." _He chuckled to himself. It didn't last for long though. The other competitor had grabbed his sword. Hiccup had no time to lose. He lunged for his sword just in time to block the hard swing from his enemy.

**Astrid's POV**

Astrid sighed in relief.

"No!" She shrieked, remembering last night.

"_That was my chance!" _

She slumped into her chair. She had been so stupid! She ran out of the arena just as hiccup sliced his opponent's arm, drawing blood. She went down to the lake and looked at her reflection. She looked awful. She called for toothless. "Bring me home." She whispered. She climbed on his back and flew back to Berk.

**Merida's POV**

As soon as Hiccup drew first blood, Merida raced into the arena. The other contest was fuming and swinging at Hiccup. Merida jumped in front of hiccup and kicked the teen backwards. The force Merida had used caused her to fall and then be caught by hiccup. "Why'd you do that? With your bow, I mean." Hiccup asked her. "I couldn't let my wee fishbone die, could I?" She teased, running out of the arena. Hiccup chased after her. "Merida?" He called, searching for his friend. Merida giggled from the top of a tree. She laughed as she jumped from the tree, diving straight for the ground. Hiccup looked in fear just before Firefly caught her.

**Hiccup's POV**

He sighed in relief as she and Firefly landed lightly next to him. The look in the light fury's eyes reminded him of the first time he saw toothless.

"_I have brought down this mighty beast!" He exclaimed as the night fury roared. He stumbled backwards, terrified. His legs wanted to run. "No. I need to prove to them that I can do it" he thought. He walked back over to the beast, dagger in hand. "Im gonna kill you dragon." he had said. "I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father." He breathed, looking into its big, green eyes. The dragon squirmed. "I'm a viking!" He yelled, trying to make it sound true. He breathed heavily, holding the dagger above the massive black creature. He raised the dagger and saw its big, sad eyes close as it rolled to its side, knowing it was about to be slaughtered. He dropped his hands. He could never do it. "I did this." he said to himself. He began cutting the rope holding the dragon as its eyes snapped open. Once it was free, it knocked Hiccup to the ground. "This is it!" he thought. He was a goner. The night fury growled and roared. He then tried to fly off, but fell into a valley as hiccup passed out. The next day he came back out looking for it. He looked around, seeing nothing. "Well this was stupid." he said. He then saw black stuff on the ground. "What in the world…" he thought. The night fury then roared and flew past him, enraged. Hiccup fell backwards as the night fury slipped into the lake. After a few minutes of drawing the creature, he realized half his tail was missing. He turned back as the night fury looked up at him._

He shook his head and saw merida shooting targets. "You've been gone long enough." She giggled. Then she turned around, a bad look on her face. "We can't find toothless or astrid."


	5. Chapter 5 The Big Four

"We can go check on them, make sure they got back to berk. That's the only place they could've gone." Merida said.

"Ok, is firefly ok w-" he started.

Firefly nudged him up onto her back and then went over and did the same with Merida. The dragon then crouched low and Merida got down close to her back. Hiccup copied Merida, nervous for what they were doing. They took off, faster than he had ever gone with toothless (And that was still pretty fast).

Not long after, Firefly got ready to breath fire and disappear. Right before she shot out the burning, purple flame Hiccup realized Merida wasn't wearing dragon skin armor, or any armor for that matter. He tried to reach out to her but he was too late. By the time he opened his eyes, she was gone. He went to put his head in his hands when he realized-

_He_ _had no hands._

He looked down at his torso- at least where it should be- but it was gone to! He spent the next few minutes wondering if he lost all his limbs.

"_No." _He thought. "_I'd be dead."_

"_Then are you dead?" _A second conscious chimed in his head.

He heard a laugh that pulled him out of his thoughts. He looked at where his hands should be as his hands slowly came back into sight. Next his torso, then firefly, and finally-

"Merida!" he gasped as she appeared in front of him. "You scared me." He laughed, realizing how funny he must've sounded to her. Even firefly snorted in amusement. "Oh yeah it's very funny that I thought you DIED." He said, cheeks reddening by the second. Suddenly Firefly jerked to the side. Hiccup fortunately caught her side with his prosthetic leg before he could fall, but Merida wasn't so lucky.

"Firefly!" He yelled urgently, trying to get the dragon to save its owner. Her trance was too strong for him to break, so he only had one choice if he was going to save his friend. He spread out his arms, revealing "dragon wings" of his own. "_I hope you can swim, Merida." _He thought to himself as he jumped and raced towards her. He reached her just as the two of them landed with a huge splash into the ocean.

When Merida woke up, they were underwater. Merida frantically tried to swim upwards, when she realized she couldn't swim. She was on _land._ But water was surrounding them. She looked up and realized that something had happened that she thought impossible. The water had _split. _It was like there was a crack in the water. She shook Hiccup.

"_Wake up!"_ She whispered in his ear.

He mumbled and then shot straight up. "What?!" He yelled, confused and dazed.

"We're _Under water." _She said, motining to the huge ocean walls.

"Hello." Said a boy. Merida could tell it was a boy around their age from his voice.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Hiccup said bravely, grabbing his flame-sword.

"We don't know what's going on either." A girl's voice said, she was the same age as the boy.

"I'm Jack." The boy said. "Jack frost."

Hiccup and Merida started laughing.

"I laughed to." The girl sighed, holding up a frost covered camelion.

Hiccup and Merida stopped laughing.

"I'm Rapunzel." She said, wrapping her hair around the little green creature.

She started singing a tune.

Merida glanced over at hiccup, confused, but his eyes were glued on the princess.

"Why are yo-..." She started, and then she saw that the princesses hair was _glowing_.

A burning piece of paper came floating down, and Jack quickly put it out.

"What does it say?" Hiccup asked anxiously as everyone held their breath, wondering what it would say.

"The big four."


	6. Chapter 6 Ice

_**Hi! I haven't updated in like forever. I just started going to a new school and it's hardddddd T-T. So, I'm going to start slowly getting into the habit of working on this stuff again. I'll be updating a longer episode sometime hopefully before halloween. Here it is! Enjoy!**_

A burning piece of paper came floating down, and Jack quickly put it out.

"What does it say?" Hiccup asked anxiously as everyone held their breath, wondering what it would say.

"The big four."

They heard a rumbling noise. Water came crashing down on them. All Hiccup could see was bubbles. He tried to cry out to the rest, but nothing came out of his throat. He gasped for air as he burst up to the surface. He coughed and wiped the water out of his eyes. He saw an iceberg. "Get on!" Jack cried. Merida pulled him up. The air was freezing. Rapunzel's chameleon squeaked. They got down and waited.

—

A few hours later they had reached an island. There was a huge, gray mountain on the top.

The side opened up. They cautiously walked inside and looked around. There were Illiterate markings all over the walls, and it was almost too dark to see. A dark figure walked along the path. They began chasing it. "Hey!" Jack yelled. They came to a room filled with people, but they weren't people. They were more like shadows, with gray rags. They chanted something that they couldn't understand. **BGI RFOU… OSLT ON OMRE… OCEM ORMF ATRSW… ISER.**

Suddenly there was a flashing light, and all 4 of them found themselves falling into complete darkness.

_**One more thing! I know I know, this is annoying. I need more ideas! Not many people read this, so if you add an idea I'll almost definitely use it. BAI~!**_


End file.
